


Safe Word

by Minuete



Series: His and Her Angst [31]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Angst, Extended Scene, F/M, Humor, Missing Scene, Post-episode s04ep20: Small Potatoes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:54:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22890574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minuete/pseuds/Minuete
Summary: An extended/missing scene for Small Potatoes taking place right after the ending.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Series: His and Her Angst [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/827994
Comments: 6
Kudos: 32





	Safe Word

**Author's Note:**

> You’d think Scully’s encounter with an imposter Mulder a second time that she would want a safe word.

Mulder shoved his hands into his coat pockets to stop himself from fidgeting as he picked up his pace in the hallway. Why the fuck did he say that to Scully?

_“Yeah, but I'm no Eddie Van Blundht either. Am I?”_

Fresh air couldn’t come soon enough as he pushed the wooden door open to exit the reformatory. He vaguely made out the clickity-clack of Scully’s heels as she scurried after him while he retrieved his keys from his pant pocket. Why the hell did he invite Scully to come along anyway? 

Feeling flustered while unlocking the car doors, Mulder announced, “We’re getting coffee. I remembered passing by a diner on our way here.”

Never mind that they already had coffee before driving to Cumberland Reformatory. Scully was never one to decline caffeine. He continued to avoid looking over at his partner as he buckled himself in and started the car. 

The two were seated in a booth and offered the brunch menu by a middle-aged waitress with brassy-colored hair in a loose ponytail. She openly flirted with Mulder giving him a wink as she asked for their beverage order. What would Eddie Van Blundht do in this situation? Geez. He was a glutton for self-torture. He smiled tightly at the waitress and flitted his hazel eyes towards the menu, feeling the weight of Scully’s stare on him.

“Do you—“ Scully started, but Mulder interrupted her.

“Did you get a chance to look at the case file on your desk this morning?” He looked up at her catching an expression of surprise on her face. The same expression she had when he broke into her home to see him—Van Blundht’s version of him— on her couch in front of a cozy fire. _Shit. Don’t go there._ He willed himself to forget the images in his head of the immediate aftermath: Scully’s shocked expression turned to disgust when she had to excuse herself to throw up in her bathroom after he cuffed Van Blundht and called the police. 

Scully’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts as she answered, “Yes, and though it’s a grade above the monkey babies you found in the tabloids, I don’t deem it as an X-File.”

Mulder groaned, leaning his head back against the booth, as he dragged his hands down the sides of his face. “You had to circle back to monkey babies, Scully?”

She quirked a brow at his overreaction. “We just saw Van Blundht.”

“No, _I_ did. _You_ just saw a video circuit of Van Blundht,” Mulder clarified. Why did he think the two of them were passed this awkwardness? He kept quiet when the waitress returned with two cups of coffee and took their orders. He ordered a slice of apple pie while Scully returned her menu to the waitress. Mulder brooded over his cup of coffee, watching the steam rise. He had woken up to cold sweats after the incident, unable to recall the nightmares in his overactive mind but remembering the powerlessness he felt, his failure to save Scully in time. During one of their late-night phone confessionals, they brushed on this incident. Scully attributed to the alcohol for her lapse in judgment as Mulder listened to her side of the story while biting his bottom lip and clenching his fists imagining himself beating Van Blundht’s face into a pulp. See if the dickwad could morph his face then. Dammit! His psyche is a train wreck when it comes to his partner’s safety. There has to be a way to keep her safe from something like this happening again. Then it occurred to him…

“We need a safe word!” Mulder blurted out just as the waitress arrived with his slice of apple pie, causing Scully to choke on her coffee. 

“Oh, honey, I can think up of _several_ safe words for you,” the waitress gushed as she set his plate down in front of him, giggling. Not daring to glance at the waitress, Mulder kept his gaze on Scully with his lips pursed as she quickly set her coffee cup down and covered her choking coughs with her napkin, her blue eyes shone brightly from her tears kept in check. 

“I realized that came out wrong,” he deadpanned once the flirty waitress left their booth, and Scully’s coughing subsided. He dug into his apple pie. She threw her napkin at him.

“No shit, Sherlock! When will we ever need to use a code word?”

“Hopefully, never?”

“Yes. Never. Van Blundht had a unique abnormality that most likely will never be exploited again. Unless we get a case of the body snatchers, the chances of this happening again is extremely slim.”

“A case of the body snatchers would be an X-File.” Mulder took another bite of his apple pie then a sip of his coffee. “You really think we’ll never run into this type of situation again, given our profession?”

“I’m fairly certain.” Scully propped her hands atop the table booth and leaned forward. In a low tone, she continued, “I can assure you if the next time an imposter you were to pull a fast one on me, then he’ll have to answer to my Glock.”

“Gonna be packing heat?”

“Don’t I always?” She took another gulp of her coffee, keeping her eyes pinned on Mulder. He could make out the glint of humor in her eyes. Chuckling, he took out his wallet and threw a $10 bill onto the table. Scully quickly gathered her coat and purse as she scooted herself off her booth seat.

“You don’t want to wait for the receipt to claim this meal on this month’s expense reports?” she asked as Mulder ushered her out of the diner. 

“I honestly don’t wanna hear what safe words our waitress has in store for me.” He extended his arm to push open the glass door. Scully looked up at him from behind her shoulder and smiled.

“Oh, Mulder. You’re truly one of a kind.”


End file.
